Saturday, January 10, 2015

Different United Methodist Responses to Marriage Equality and
LGBTQ Persons

Where do you
stand? Which of the following five responses reflect your understanding of
God’s will in our day for the people called United Methodists?

1.Severely Exclusive - LGBTQ persons
are condemned by God to hell. Homosexuality in any form is an “abomination” in
the eyes of God.

2.Exclusive – LGBTQ persons are valued
by God, but homosexual practice is condemned as sinful. Same gender ceremonies
are not ordained by God.

3.Mildly Exclusive – LGBTQ persons do
not represent God’s original intention in creation. But God can redeem the
brokenness. In the difficult choices of our fallen world, monogamous same gender
relationships can often represent the best Christian response.

4.Diversity – Since our church is not
of one mind in responding to LGBTQ persons and marriage equality, we should
respect the diversity of understandings.

5.Inclusive – LGBTQ persons are created
by God with unique gifts. Homosexuality is not considered by God to be a sin.
Faithful, monogamous, loving relationships between any two persons are ordained
by God.

I had the privilege of signing the
marriage license for my daughter’s same gender wedding in August of 2014. A
complaint was filed against me the next day because this is a “chargeable offense”
in the United Methodist Church. The complainant and the Bishop met with me on
four occasions and we settled “out of court” with a Just Resolution.

Item four of the Just Resolution statement says,
“Rev. Tupper will develop a written theological statement which accurately
presents the several theological positions within the context of the West
Michigan Conference and includes his personal theological conclusions about the
position he has chosen for himself.” This document reflects that work.

In preparation for this statement, I
desired to learn more about the exclusive perspectives. I contacted Tom
Lambrecht from the Good News organization. He directed me to Dr. Chris Bounds.
Chris is a United Methodist elder and Professor of Theology at Indiana Wesleyan
University. He graciously agreed to meet with me on December 12th,
2014. We enjoyed a warm and fruitful dialogue as we shared about our lives and
our perspectives. The following document will include helpful information he
shared with me.

The “exclusive” perspectives rest on four pillars.

The first pillar is Scripture. The Bible refers to homosexuality six times. Genesis 19:1-11
tells the story of the homosexual intentions of the men of Sodom. Leviticus
20:13 and 18:22-25 condemn homosexual practice as part of the Purity Code of
Moses. Paul includes homosexuality in lists of sinful behavior in Romans
1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9-10 and I Timothy 1:8-10. Every reference to
homosexuality in the Bible is negative.

The second pillar is church tradition. Christian churches have taken a stand condemning
homosexual behavior from the early church up till the present. They have
understood the Scriptures to say that homosexuality is sinful.

The third pillar is Creation. God created humans as male and female to be joined together.
The second creation story in Genesis 2 tells about the creation of woman to be
a suitable partner for the man. Genesis 2:24: “That’s why a man will leave his
own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one
person.” Men and women were created by God with specific anatomical features
that promote their joining together. Homosexual practice is “contrary to
nature”.

The fourth pillar is the Fall. Homosexuality is an expression of the brokenness of creation
and the fallen state of humanity. It is one way of expressing original sin –
our bent to stray from God’s intentions. LGBTQ persons are born with a specific
orientation that represents a deviance from God’s original plan. It is a
spiritual disability.

Dr. Chris Bounds summarizes the
fourth pillar this way: “However the Church has also affirmed that just because
people have been born with a homosexual inclination, exacerbated by the fallen
order around them, and fully materialized through personal sin, this does not
mean they are without hope of healing from this manifestation of corruption.
The redemptive work of Christ made available to believers through the
sanctifying work of the Spirit can empower people to keep their homosexual
inclinations in check and offer hope of healing of their corrupted sexuality.”

God created humans “in God’s image”.
The creation story was written to remind us that all of God’s creation is good.
“God doesn’t make junk.” Whether we’re black or white, male or female, Chinese
or American, homosexual or straight, left-handed or right-handed – we’re all
created good in God’s image. Homosexuality is not a choice. It’s a unique gift
given by God to certain people and not others. It is good in God’s sight.

The rest of the Creation story
emphasizes the diversity of God’s creation. God could have made things to look
and be alike. All plants could have looked alike. There could have been only
one insect, only one bird, and only one fish. Instead, God chose to create the
world using an amazing diversity. We’re incredibly diverse as human beings as
well. We realize there’s diversity in our sexuality as well. God created us
both homosexual and heterosexual. We can celebrate that diversity.

2.God’s Inclusion of the “Impure” (Acts 10:1-36)

Gentiles were considered impure,
sinful people to be avoided by Jews. The vision and the visit to Cornelius
awaken Peter to his mission to reach out to these people. He realizes Gentiles
can be Christian without following all the Jewish purity laws. He discovers
that “God treats all people alike”.

Who are considered by some to be the
impure, sinful people in our day? The people in the LGBTQ community. What does
Peter’s vision and visit have to do with us today in the church? We are called
to reach out to those who are considered impure and sinful. We believe God’s
grace and acceptance are for all, not for the ‘chosen’ few (the pure, the Jew,
the heterosexual).

3.Challenging the Rules (Colossian
2:20-22 and 3:14)

The Christians in Colossae have
gotten caught up in rules that go beyond God’s intentions. It is similar to the
problem some of the Pharisees had during the days of Jesus. The Colossians had
rules about what they could and couldn’t eat, rules about what they could and
couldn’t touch and detailed rituals and festival practices. They taught that
one had to keep all of these rules to be a part of the church.

Paul told them this was wrong. He
said that Christ died to set them free from rules like those. Later people
referred to the problem in Colossae as the Colossian heresy. It’s been a
problem we’ve seen throughout the centuries. We find it in rules that some
churches hold on to today such as priests who cannot marry and women who cannot
be church leaders. As a youth, I was a part of a church that taught that movie
theaters, billiards, alcohol, playing cards and swimming with persons of the
same sex were all sinful and forbidden. I’ve read about how intermarriage
between the races fits the same category. It’s the Colossian heresy still with
us.

One rule that is a part of the
Colossian heresy today is the rule against homosexual practice. Paul’s words to
us are still helpful: “Why be bothered with the rules that humans have made
up?” In the next chapter Paul goes on to tell what it should be about instead
of those rules. “Love is more important than anything else.” (Col. 3:14)

4: The Commandments of God (Mark 12:28-31)

The Son of God says love trumps human
laws. Love is the essence of God’s true law. Loving a person means we value and
respect them and do not treat them as second class Christians. Loving gay
people as much as we love ourselves means we allow them as many rights and
privileges as heterosexuals. The biblical God loves homosexuals and people in
the LGBTQ community. The biblical God calls for everyone to love those in the
LGBTQ community as much as they love themselves. We allow them to love a
partner and get married just as heterosexuals are able to love a partner and
get married. This also means we are compelled to advocate for their equal
rights and equal treatment.

5. Jesus’ Inclusion of the Outsider (Luke 14:15-24
and Luke 5:12-16)

Jesus reveals what this love for all
looks like by his stories and his life. Jesus has a special passion for those
who are not treated as first class citizens. He reaches out to help the
outsiders. He welcomes in those who are excluded and oppressed. This can apply
today to the LGBTQ community who are often excluded and oppressed and treated
as second class outsiders. Lord, help us love.

6.Jesus and Marriage (Mark 10:1-12)

Jesus values the joining together of
two people in a married relationship. Jesus is clear that breaking this
marriage covenant is not God’s perfect will. Divorce is the great danger to our
families, not same gender weddings.

Mike Tupper’s Perspective

I am willing to live in a church that
holds the “Diversity” position. Diversity has always been a hallmark of the
United Methodist Church. We hold diverse understandings about most of the
social issues of our time including: war, alcohol use, abortion, and capital
punishment. The Book of Discipline states in “Our Theological Task”: “United
Methodists as a diverse people continue to strive for consensus in
understanding the gospel. In our diversity, we are held together by a shared
inheritance and a common desire to participate in the creative and redemptive
activity of God… In the name of
Jesus Christ we are called to work within our diversity while exercising
patience and forbearance with one another.”

I prefer to serve in a denomination
that supports the “Inclusive” position. It’s clear to me that the Scriptures
indicating that homosexuality is a sin do not represent God’s will for all
time. The trajectory of church tradition in responding to LGBTQ persons and
marriage equality is moving toward the inclusive position. This can be seen in
the changing position of the other mainline denominations and the perspective
of younger Christians. Church tradition is shifting as it did related to
slavery and the role of women. LGBTQ persons do not live with a spiritual
disability, but are given a unique gift by the God of diversity. They are
living according to their “nature”. Marriage is the most faithful arena for
expressing sexuality so same gender weddings should be encouraged by the
church.

Where do you stand? Which of the five
responses reflect your understanding of God’s will in our day for the people
called United Methodists?